Improvement in burial-safes



A. VAN BIBBER.

Burial-Safes.

No. 207,510. Patented Aug. 27, 1878.

E o a &

o a a Q a a a o q a 1 0 W n a a o a g i o I Q T LUF O a mm, m, A

NJZYERS. FHOTO-UTNOGRAPNER, WASHINGTON. D C- UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE ANDREWV VAN BIBBER,

OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.

IMPROVEMENT IN BURIAL- SAFES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 207,570, dated August 27, 78; application filed August 5, 1878.

To all whom "it may concern:

Be it known that I, ANDREW VAN BIBBER, of Cincinnati, Hamilton county, and State of Ohio, have invented a certain new and useful Burial-Safe; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the same, which will enable others skilled in the art to which my invention relates to make and use it, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification, in which- Figure 1 is a perspective view of the safe; Fig. 2, a sectional elevation of the same, and Fig. 3 a sectional view of a modification/ Similar letters refer to similar parts.

My invention has for its object to provide a strong and secure protectingcase for coffins, which, when placed within a grave and prop erly fastened and weighted, shall prevent access to the coffin for the purpose of removing the corpse therefrom within the time necessary for body-stealers to perform their work.

To this end the invention consists in a case much larger than the coffin, composed of wrought-iron or steel, preferably in the form of bars, and provided with a suitable cover adapted to be locked or otherwise secured on the inside of the case, said case being lowered into the grave either before or after the coffin is placed within it, and after having its cover fastened the earth shoveled into the grave fills the case and covers the coffin, thereby making the structure very heavy and rendering it impossible for body-thieves to lift it out or gain access to the coffin, and preventing them from reaching the fastening devices with the necessary tools for cutting or breaking the fastenings of the cover.

In the accompanyin g drawin gs, A represents the burialsafe, substantially of the form shown, and B the coffin deposited therein.

The safe, as will be observed, is made much larger than the coffin, and is composed either of perforated metal or of wrought-iron or steel bars or rods 0 O, properly welded or riveted together, so as to formlarge interstices, through which the earth will readily pass to the inside of the case for filling it and covering the coffin.

By making the case of large wrought-iron or steel bars they cannot well be broken or cut with sharp instruments to the requisite extent for access to the coffin before the parties operating upon them would be detected.

D is the cover, composed of similar bars of iron or steel, and preferably hinged to one side of the case at E E E by very strong and secure hinges. The free edge of the cover is securely fastened to the opposite side of the case by long metal hasps F F, which pass down inside the case to a point near the bottom, where they are fitted upon staples Gr G, and padlocks 11 H passed through the staples and locked. Thus a secure fastening is provided for the cover, located at a point near thebottom of the grave, thereby affording additional security, because the grave would have to be enlarged and the earth almost entirely removed before the fastenings could be reached.

To use the protecting burial-safe, the coffin containing the corpse is placed within it, either before or after it is lowered into the grave, which should be dug in length and width about the size of the case, so that the latter will fit into it easily. After the coffiu is deposited within it the cover is fastened down by the padlocks and the grave filled in. The earth readily passes through the interstices of the case, completely filling it around the coffin, as shown in Fig. 2, and may be rammed or packed in with suitable instruments through the openings between the bars. The earth also enters the padlocks, stopping up the keyholes, and therefore preventing the locks from being picked should body-thieves ever succeed in reaching them. By this means the safe is so heavily weighted that it cannot be' lifted out of the grave by ordinary means or manual effort-s, nor can the earth be removed to lighten it, while the location of the padlocks with respect to the bottom of the case prevents them from being reached within a time necessary for the thieves to perform their work, and their position on the inside of the case prevents access to them by such tools as would break the fastenin gs.

If desired, the case may be provided with a shelf or false bottom, I, to support the coffin, and the space beneath the shelf filled with stones K, or other heavy substances, to increase the weight of the case, as shown in Fig. 3.

I do not wish to confine myself to the means herein described for fastening the cover of the case,as this may be donein a variety of ways which will render it perfectly secure without departing from the spirit of my invention; neither do 1 limit myself to the use of hinges for the cover, for it also may be fastened by other devices than hinges.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is 1. A case or burial-safe for protecting coffins containing dead bodies, composed of metal with perforations or interstices, and a cover of like construction, adapted to be firmly fastened in place, said case being of a size much larger than the coffin, whereby, when the latter is deposited within it and the whole lowered into the grave, the case may be filled with earth through its openings for the purpose of weighting it, so that it cannot be removed by bodystcalers, substantially :s described,

2. The case or burial-safe, of larger size than the coffin it is to receive, and composed of wrought-iron or steel bars or rods riveted or otherwise secured together, so as to leave interstices between the bars, substantially as described, for the purpose specified.

3. The metallic open-work case or burialsafe, of larger size than the coffin it is to receive, provided with a metal cover of the same construction, adapted to be locked or otherwise fastened to the case on the inside thereof, substantially as described, for the purpose specified.

4. The combination of the long metal hasps F F and their locks or fastening devices with the cover D and case A, the locking-point of such hasps being near the bottom of the case, substantially as described, for the purpose specified.

In testimony of which invention I hereunto set my hand.

' ANDREW VAN BIBBER. Vi tn esses JOHN E. J oNEs,

I IowARn DOUGLASS. 

